


Impatient For You

by Cupcakemolotov



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dating, Drunken Shenanigans, F/M, Flirting, Hybrid Klaus Mikaelson, References Murder, Refernces Sex, The Dating Life, Vampire Caroline Forbes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2020-09-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:20:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21643579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cupcakemolotov/pseuds/Cupcakemolotov
Summary: Years later, Klaus and Caroline are trying out the dating thing.
Relationships: Caroline Forbes/Klaus Mikaelson
Comments: 45
Kudos: 269





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted something fluffy, and realized that I hadn't written them in an actual relationship that often. So I decided to write some drabbles with them dating because why not? Hopefully they are short and cute. And fun. :)

Caroline yanked open her front door and glowered.

Klaus stood on the other side, lips curled in an unrepentant smile. His gaze heated as his eyes lowered to take in her appearance, lingering where the hem of her rob stopped at mid thigh. Footing moving to tap against the floor, she frowned until his eyes returned to hers.

“You’re early.”

“You look _delightful_ , sweetheart.”

She huffed, refusing to be charmed. The robe had been a gift from him, after he’d torn her previous one. She hadn’t worn it for him yet, because she’d loved it and Klaus would probably rip it too. The glint in his eye told her that he was already seriously considering cancelling their plans for the evening. “You said you were picking me up at seven. It’s just now _six_.”

His gave a slight shrug and his lips tilted up. “So I did.”

She didn’t budge. “ _Klaus_.”

His smile melted into something far too charming, dimples creasing both cheeks. “Its been almost a week since our last date. I found myself to impatient to wait another hour.”

Caroline bit the side of her tongue to keep from returning his smile with a cheesy grin of her own.

For the past few months, they’d been easing into a relationship. It had started after she'd moved back to the States after a few decades abroad, wanting a place to settle for a few years. Klaus had been living in Chicago of all places, and she'd found a place she loved in New York.

When she'd been traveling, she'd run into him a dozen or so times, likely because he'd planed it, though she'd never called him on it. She'd found that she hadn't minded , and once she'd made the decision to put down some roots, Caroline had found herself thinking about those encounters and the ease in which they'd shared a meal or a drink. Back in Mystic Falls, she'd never allowed herself to relax with him, but thousands of miles away from her human ties, she'd found she not only enjoyed his company but she'd missed him when he was gone. Sitting her her New York apartment, looking through the dozens and dozens of pictures she'd taken, she'd found herself thinking of him more often than not. Then one afternoon, she'd texted him an invite to join her at a gallery she'd been thinking of attending before she could talk herself out of it. It wasn't the first text that she'd sent him, but Caroline had been careful to keep the conversations as light as possible in between restaurant recommendations and complaints about tourists.

Asking him if he wanted to go on what she wasn't ready to call a date was something different. Something that had the potential to be better.

Klaus had responded with an affirmative almost immediately after receiving her text, and she'd spent the next week fretting. To distract herself, she'd gone shopping for a new dress, cleaned and rearranged her apartment three times, and called Bonnie multiple times without actually telling her why she was antsy. In the end, her nerves had been for no good reason. Klaus had shown up to take her dinner before the event, and she'd spent the evening hiding her laughter behind a champagne glass as Klaus had gone all snobby and critical of the art. She'd bought a painting just to watch him twitch, and she'd teased him all the way back to his hotel just to rile him up. She hadn't minded in the least when he finally ended their bickering with his mouth on hers or that the painting had disappeared by the next morning.

Though she had made a point to complain over the breakfast they'd shared in his room the next morning.

After that night, he’d started popping up with an invitation to dinner here, an event there on a far more regular basis. She hadn't thought of turning him down. Not when he made her feel as good as he did, with how much effort he was putting into making their evenings out fun and casual. But Caroline had decided that she wanted more. Late nights and early mornings weren't enough. So the next time he was in town, she'd made a point to casually refer to their dinner as a _date_. His smile had been slow and delighted, eyes warm as they'd met hers. Two weeks later, he’d mysteriously relocated to a swanky high rise apartment just far enough from her apartment that it didn’t feel like he was looming, but close enough that spending a few nights at his place didn’t seem that far fetched.

And she spent _many_ nights at his place. Enough, that Klaus had become completely unsubtle in his hints that he had plenty of closet space if she wanted to bring things over. Lots of things.

So far she hadn't. Dating Klaus was turning out to be so much more fun than she'd imagined, and while she knew asking for more was definitely on the horizon, learning about him this way was _good_. Not that it had always been sunshine and roses. They were both truly terrible at compromise, and when they fought it could get heated. It was how she’d lost her robe. Angry sex followed by makeup sex wasn’t the worst way to work out their frustrations so they could try to discuss something reasonably.

Not that they always managed it.

“Whatever you are thinking, stop it.” She said firmly once she’d gotten a grip on her smile. “You owe me dinner after our last one was crashed by those werewolves. I bought a dress. I’m wearing it somewhere that isn’t this apartment.”

His gaze narrowed briefly with anger at the reminder of the interruption a week prior. And probably the plate she'd throne at his head once the last body had hit the floor.

“We won’t be interrupted tonight.” His words were firm, a hint of gold bleeding into the blue of his eyes. “I’ve made sure of it.”

“I hope your right,” she said firmly. “I bought super cute underwear for tonight and you won’t be seeing any of it if I ruin another dress with bloodstains.” Klaus' expression immediately shifted from murderous to calculating, and she held up a finger. “No.”

“You don’t mind _all_ the bloodstains,” he pointed out reasonably. “I can think of two or three situations where I imagine you wouldn’t even notice.”

Her skin heated and she narrowed her eyes. “I am going to go and finish getting ready. If I let you in, are you going to behave?”

“If a must,” he finally said, tongue sliding across his lips.

“You _must_ ,” she repeated firmly. “And you’re going to stay out of the bathroom while I change.”

A hint of a challenge flickered across his face. “What if you need me to zip your dress?"

Caroline gave him an arch look, her lips tugging upwards at the corners. “The zipper is on the side. There isn’t much of a back to it. At all, really.”

Spinning on her heel to leave him with that mental image, she ignored his audible inhale and headed back to her room to finish getting ready. She had maybe thirty minutes before he started testing the boundaries of their agreement, and she was determined he not see her until she was finished.

Vampire whooshing through her makeup wasn’t ideal, but it’d _do_.


	2. Chapter 2

They tripped on a rug.

Caroline snorted out a laugh as Klaus staggered forward, her hand fisted in his shirt, the other locked around the arm over her shoulder. For a moment it looked like his hybrid balance would kick in and they’d recover, and then his foot caught the edge of the couch. They went down in a messy tangle of limbs, and while Klaus managed to twist so that she landed on the him, they hit the floor with a thud. Her chin bounced off his shoulder with an _oomph_ and they both laid there stunned for long moments.

“Fuck.” 

Caroline dissolved into laughter at the disgruntled utterance, her fingers loosening their death grip on his shirt as she snorted. Slapping at the floor to find it, she careened into something of a sitting position and peered down at Klaus with a bright smile.

“Your dr _unk._ ” She popped her words, her tone overly cheerful. She wasn’t any more sober than him, and it showed. The witch bar Klaus had taken her too had been fun and the drinks _po_ te _nt_. She’d fully expected to get completely plastered as soon as she’d sampled the first one. It had been ages since she allowed herself the indulgence, and with Klaus with her, she was as safe as she could be. 

She had _not_ expected him to end up on the same side of drunk as her or for it to be so much fun. Drunk Klaus still grumbly and a little handsy, and he rarely took his eyes off of her. She approved of all of those things but even better, he hadn’t complained about the dancing when she’d dragged him to the floor. Instead he’d leaned against her and moved.

One eye cracked open. “Observant, love.”

Snorting, Caroline tested her balance by leaning forward, her nose nearly brushing his. She wavered and his hand landed heavily on her waist, steadying her. “What did you even _drink_?”

Klaus blinked opened both eyes and she was delighted as it clearly took him a moment to focus. “Several somethings, I’m sure.”

Sniggering, Caroline gave up trying to balance and flopped back across his chest. His hand shifted with her movements and ended up beneath her shirt, pressing heavily against her spine. “I didn’t even think you could _get_ drunk.”

His response was carefully precise, his words slow. “It isn’t... easy. But this isn’t my first visit to that bar.”

She considered that as she wiggled around until her legs weren’t in such an uncomfortable position. “That’s surprising.”

Klaus’ laugh was soft and she pressed her ear harder against his chest to absorb the sound of it. “Is it? There are many things you haven’t tried yet.”

Caroline slapped his arm. “Not that. That you’d even _get_ drunk in public.”

“Ah, that.” His fingers tangled in her hair and her body lifted with his as he shrugged. “It’s nothing that a bit of blood won’t immediately cure.”

Her lips pursed as she considered that. Klaus, she knew, their less than graceful tumble aside, was still lethal. Drunk or sober, he was still hybrid fast. If threatened, she imagined he’d do whatever necessary to flush the alcohol out of his system as quickly as possible. Deciding that those thoughts of bloodshed were _way_ too heavy, she pressed her face under his chin and hummed.

“This is nice.”

“Lying on the floor?”

“Well, you are comfortable,” she laughed. “But no. _This._ Being here. With you.”

His hand smoothed down the wild tumble of her curls. “I enjoy you too, sweetheart. I always have.”

She wondered if he could feel her smile. The way her cheeks ached with it. For a long moment, she let herself lay there against him on his floor. Klaus traces patterns against her spine, seemingly as content as she.

A thought occurred to her, and Caroline’s head popped up and she squinted. “Do you think we can make it to the kitchen?”

“Probably. Why?”

“I bought Cheetos.”

“Cheetos.” He repeated. “The things with the ridiculous fake cheese?”

“Uh huh,” she agreed, nodding eagerly. “I hid them in your pantry. And I want them.”

Klaus snorted and then blinked when her gaze dropped to his. “You’re serious.”

Caroline patted his chest. “Yes.”

His brows came down and watched as she pushed herself into a wobbly sitting position. “You can have anything in my kitchen and you chose to bring in… Cheetos.”

She smiled brightly and used the couch to lever herself up. For a moment, she swayed and caught herself. “Yup.”

“Caroline.”

Fairly certain that enough of her vampirism had kicked in that she wasn’t in complete danger of tumbling down, she chanced a look down. She bit her lip hard to hold in another laugh as she took in his ruffled hair and scowl. “If you come eat them with me, I’ll let you pick the next snack.”

Klaus muttered something under his breath and levered himself to his feet. “Sweetheart…”

Caroline slid her arm through his as they carefully kept each other upright. “Nope. You can make the next post-drinking snack whatever ridiculously fancy thing you were planning _next_ time. I want cheesy carbs. Fake cheese or no fake cheese.”

His mouth moved close to hers. “Is that all you want?”

She tightened her grip on his arm and dropped her eyes to the curve of his lips. “I bet we’re sober enough post-Cheetos for sex.” 

His arm slid around her waist, holding her against his side. “And I assume you have a plan for that as well?”

Caroline hummed an agreement as she took her first unsteady step forward. “I’ll even share. The Cheetos _and_ my plans. Hint: I bought something _new_.”

Sighing heavily, Klaus staggered with her across the breadth of the downstairs. He then grudgingly fished her contraband out of his pantry with minimum commentary as she precariously balanced on a bar stool. At her laughing insistence, he even eventually tried one. Later, she made a point to show her _full_ appreciation.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea how many chapters there will be for this, but here is something from Klaus' perspective.

Klaus blew out a breath in a bid for some kind of patience as the elevator doors finally shut. Outside, thunder boomed, and he ran his hand through his wet curls. Having to move at human speed from the car into his building had left him susceptible to the downpour, and while he didn’t feel the cold, he didn’t particularly enjoy dripping water. The doorman had done his best to block the rain with his umbrella, but the winds had picked up considerably, making it difficult for human hands to maintain their grip. He hadn’t recognized the man downstairs, his usual and compelled doorman nowhere to be seen, and the man had been fortunate that he didn’t have the time to eat such an incompetent individual.

He was sure he’d have the time for a midnight at another time.

Grimacing at the water running down his neck, he wondered if perhaps it was time to finally start looking at a larger property that would be less susceptible to human eyes. He had grown somewhat fond of the apartment that he had claimed as his own for the last six months and finding a place with the same… locale might be difficult. Still, there were few problems that a great deal of money couldn’t solve. But none of that was important, just then.

Glancing down at his phone for the twentieth time, his gaze narrowed as it continued to have no response to either of his texts. Klaus had made a point to stay abreast of modern technology, recognizing it was both a gift and a danger. He even enjoyed it, the continual changing landscape and the creativity of the tech world. But even then, if he had been told that he would not only be texting Caroline Forbes on a fairly regular basis when she wasn’t taking up space in his apartment, an occurrence she was being frustratingly stubborn about making permanent, but that he would find her lack of response through the medium an annoyance, he would have been mostly amused. Texting was not something he had ever put much effort into, emails and phone calls offering a much wider range of options for communication. But as he had learned, many of his assumptions were so easily tossed aside by her.

The lack of response wasn’t like Caroline, particularly after the week she had spent in Virginia. She was a compulsive texter, and her last series of complaints had been in response to the delays due to the inclement weather, and her emoji use had gotten particularly heated. After her aggravated message confirming she had taken off, Caroline had gone silent.

Shoving his phone back into his pocket, he stepped off the elevator and headed for his front door. He would give her another hour to respond before showing up. Her flight had landed which meant Caroline was back in New York City, and while there were a number of reasonable explanations for her lack of response, he did not see a point in denying himself the pleasure of her company after her mini-vacation in Virginia. Particularly when she had been clear that she was not hiding the fact that he had become a part of her life again to her so-called friends.

After six months of what she so stubbornly referred to as _dating_ , he had no patience for whatever nonsense her friends had undoubtedly spewed or any doubt they might have tried to seed. While he cared very little for what they thought of him, the distress Caroline experienced after an argument with the Bennett witch in particular was not something he enjoyed seeing. There was a chance that she would have returned with regrets, and he had no intention of letting them fester. Caroline would undoubtedly complain about his appearance, but he had found that there were few things he enjoyed more than soothing the sharp edges of her temper. It spoke of an intimacy between them, and he would take any and every inroad into her affections that he could find.

Running a number of potential plans through his head, it had been a few weeks since they had spent a significant amount of time at her place and he wasn’t certain what her current wine collection looked like, he stepped through his front door and paused. Head tilting, his shoulders relaxed for the first time in hours as the familiar sound of his shower running caught his attention and the faint, irritated mutterings he had grown to know so well. The air smelled like pizza, and his lips twitched as he realized she had completely forgone their “compromise pizza” as she grumpily called it, and ordered her personal favorites instead. Klaus had no idea what had led her to coming here instead of returning to her apartment as she had insisted on when he offered to have a car pick her up, but it was not a series of events he minded in the least. If he had his way, and he was determined he would, coming home to find Caroline would no longer be a pleasant surprise but an everyday occurrence.

He moved on silent feet into the bedroom and he found her familiar travel bags stuffed next to the side of the bed she claimed as her own. Her phone was plugged in on his nightstand, and his brows lifted in surprise. He hurriedly emptied his pockets before bending over to remove his shoes and socks before he strolled into the bathroom.

“Change of plans, love?” He asked curiously as he stepped into the steam filled room. Caroline preferred to nearly boil herself in the shower, and he had grown used to the heat of sharing them with her. The glass shower had steamed over so that he could only see an impression of nude skin and vague curves through the glass, and he settled his hip against the counter for a moment, content to know she was there. “And here I thought you were rather insistent on going home.”

There was a pause, the splash of water against skin, and then her heat flushed face peaked at him from a patch of glass near the door that hadn’t fogged over. The set of her mouth and flash of her eyes conveyed her annoyance. This close, and her voice was easily heard over the shower and through the glass. “Don’t _even_ start with me.”

Amused, he grinned at her obvious frustration. “Come now, Caroline. After several hours of silence from you, you can imagine my surprise to find you in my shower, hmm?”

“You like it,” she retorted with an eye roll before she disappeared back under the spray. “And today has been a _disaster_.”

“You are always welcome.” He tipped his head, tried to judge the line of her shoulders. “What happened?”

The sound of a shampoo bottle clicking opened was accompanied by a huff and the faint smell of flowers. “First, why do airlines even allow children on flights? It should be banned. I had to listen to three infants crying the entire flight from Virginia and that was _before_ we hit turbulence. Then we ended up circling the runway for almost an hour and my power cord decided that was the best time to short out, so I couldn’t even charge my phone. What good is a backup battery if you can’t connect to the damn thing? And the inflight movies _sucked_.”

That explained the lack of texts. For Caroline, not having access to her phone would have been quite trying. Reaching for the hem of his shirt, Klaus pulled it over his head and made the appropriate noises to show he was listening as he undressed.

“ _Then_ I get home to find that not only has power gone out at my building, but my upstairs neighbor has absolutely flooded their bathroom and it has been raining inside my apartment for god-knows how long thanks to their toilet.” The shampoo bottle landed on the shelf with enough force he wondered if he was going to need to schedule another round of repairs. Usually such things were made a necessity from a bit more carnal activity, but he was certain they would get there tonight. It had been three weeks since he’d seen her, and he had a number of promises made over the phone to keep. “So then I had to haul all my luggage back outside in the pouring down rain, find a cab and come here, because there is no way I am dealing with that mess when I can’t even charge my phone. And there was _no way_ I was wading through toilet water to get to my closet, so now I need to do laundry and _ugh_. To make matters _worse_ , the pizza was mostly cold when it got here and you're out of the bubble bath I like.”

Opening the door, Klaus stepped inside and smiled at the baleful look she gave him with suds of soap dripping down her hair. Her irritation at the situation did not stop the quick dart of her eyes as she took him in, lip sliding between her teeth. She’d removed her makeup before he had arrived, and the splash of freckles he found so distracting on her nose were in clear view. “A true travesty.”

Her lips pursed as her eyes returned to his. “You’re not funny.”

Grinning, he encouraged her to face the spray before sinking his fingers into her sudsy hair. She stood stiff for a long moment, but eventually the hard line of her shoulders eased, head tipping slightly back as he dug his fingers lightly into her scalp. Klaus took his time, enjoying watching the tension ease out of her frame as he washed her hair before urging her back into the spray.

“It sounds like your day was unnecessarily stressful.” Wiping water from her face, Caroline gave him a slightly suspicious look and he dimpled. “Did you want to order another pizza?”

She made a noise of disagreement as she turned back to the water and worked to rinse her hair. “The congealed cheese was not ideal. We probably won’t get better delivery service in the city tonight.”

He laughed. “I’m sure I can find a minion or two who would be willing to collect what you wanted, in a timely manner.”

“Tempting, but no.” She glanced at him over her shoulder, eyes holding the first hint of heat. “I might take a bite out of you, though.”

Delighted, he pressed his lips to her shoulder, ignoring the water as it soaked his own hair. It had taken Caroline some time to be comfortable enough to ask for what she wanted from him, and he made a point to encourage it whenever he could. Blood sharing with her was something he was determined she would never feel uncomfortable asking for. Not after those soft conversations when she’d admitted to some of her reasons for being so uncomfortable drinking blood straight from the vein in the first place. Why she was so careful with her control.

“I would be delighted to share,” he agreed, straightening. “As for the rest, there do seem to be some daily obvious solutions in the future.”

She groaned and her eyes lifted to the ceiling in an irritated beseeching that he quite enjoyed. “Seriously?”

Klaus lifted a shoulder even though she couldn’t see it. “I did offer you the plane to visit your friends, sweetheart.”

“Oh my god, I am not flying private to Virginia.” She said as she turned to square up against him, arms crossing across her breasts and hiding her nipples as she scowled. “We’ve talked about it.”

“No?” He shook his head, gaze tracking a drop of water as it slid past her mouth. “Even you must admit it would be much quieter, and would allow you a great deal of flexibility in terms of _leaving_ Mystic Falls.”

“I _like_ visiting my friends,” Caroline protested. “I don’t need an escape plan!”

Unperturbed, he arched a single brow. “And how are Damon and Elena? Still the happy couple?”

Her nose wrinkled and she scowled. “ _Rude_.”

“And yet…”

Her hand darted out to poke him in the shoulder and then lingered, fingertips pressing against his skin. “Okay, so you're not wrong, Damon is insufferable, but that isn’t a good enough reason to do something so, so, so… _extravagant_.”

“Is it not?” He asked mildly, obligingly trapping her fingers against his tattoo, wanting her to touch him just as much. Three weeks and a handful of conversations that had edged into phone sex was not nearly enough of her. “No screaming children, a staff dedicated to making your trip as pleasant as possible. Inflight movies you actually _like_. Blood or food of your choice so you are relaxed when you deplane. _Do_ explain to me why you continue to insist on traveling in such cramped space on commercial flights, love.”

Caroline’s expression turned mulish. “Or I can, you know, _not_.”

Another wave of amusement rolled through him and he pushed a dripping strand of hair away from her cheek. “No? Would you like to discuss the other complications of your evening? Because I have several suggestions on how to avoid them in the future as well.”

“Reeeally? Who would have guessed?”

He smiled at the acerbic snap in her voice, deliberately keeping his tone mild, knowing it would annoy her. “If you insist on torturing yourself, there is little I can do to change that I suppose. But I do not understand your resistance to smaller help. Would allowing me to send a car to pick you up be such a hardship?”

“A car driven by one of your _minions_.” She said the word like it was distasteful, but there was no real heat in her voice.

“A helpful minion who would have insured your arrival at your apartment, and having taken your bags up for you, been available to bring you here after you discovered the disaster of your place. One who could, even now, be working to clean up the mess and deal with the pesky details of your landlord.”

“Hey,” she protested, expression turning affronted. “I am perfectly capable of dealing with the situation myself.”

“But do you want to?”

Caroline’s eyes narrowed. “Do your minions even know how to clean properly? Because something tells me no.”

A frustration she expressed about the cleaning staff for his apartment as well, but he was smart enough not to let her start that particular rant just then. “An easily manageable situation, as cleaning would be the last step, don’t you think?”

A huff, nails digging lightly into his skin. “You just think you have all the answers tonight, don't you?”

“Of course not,” he murmured. He was not one to let such an opening go, and Caroline always tended to be more honest when she was riled. “For one, I still do not know why you insist on living elsewhere. Do you not like the apartment? Here I thought the renovations to add the soaking tub and the extra closet space would have appealed to you. You do complain about the lack of both often enough in your current place.”

“Klaus…” she started, then stopped, gaze narrowing. “Are we seriously going to have this fight _naked_ this time?”

He tipped his head, gaze dragging down the slick slide of her skin, admiring the way the water ran in rivulets down her legs and her breasts before slowly returning to her face. He made no point in hiding exactly the reaction his body was having to her and dart of her own gaze, the swipe of her tongue along her bottom lip said she didn’t mind at all. “If you’d like. It does seem to be more expedient for the post-fight make up.”

Shoving her hair back with her free hand, Caroline shook her head. “Is it really so hard to believe that I _like_ dating you?”

Klaus lowered his chin, both brows arched. “Of course not.”

Exasperation clear on her face, she freed her hand to loop her arms around his neck and scowled at him even as she moved closer, the soft press of her breasts against his chest a pleasurable distraction. He settled his hands low on her spine, and very determinedly did not pull her hips closer to his own. There would be time for that later. “Put that ego of yours aside for now, okay? The reason I am refusing to move in with you isn’t _you_ , well not in the way you are thinking, it's not the apartment, and it's _not_ anything my friends are saying, okay?”

“No?” He questioned, studying the set of her mouth and the angle of her chin. She shook her head, and there was a stubborn intensity in her eyes that made him believe her words were honest. Letting that soothe the worry he’d never admit to just yet about her acceptance of her friend’s opinions, and turned them so the water wasn’t in quite so much danger of running down her face. “Then why?”

“It's just…” her teeth rolled her lip for a moment as she clearly searched for the right words and he stifled his impatience. For all that Caroline had the tendency to ramble, he’d learned that a little hard worn patience to let her struggle through her thoughts could be very rewarding. It was a different sort of hunt, one that allowed her to come to him.

“We didn’t really… I mean, in Mystic Falls.” She blew out a breath, clearly exasperated with herself and he couldn’t help the faint curve of his smile. “I just want the chance to get to know you, okay? I know that we know the big things about each other, sort of. And anything I’m learning about you now I could learn a lot faster co-habing it, but… I’m enjoying this. The date nights and the phone calls and the missing you when I walk away. I know it's a phase, and it's not a phase I am going to be happy in forever, but I want to do this right. With you.”

Klaus studied her face as he mulled over her words. Caroline’s cheeks were red from more than the steam and she was abusing her lower lip again, but her words had been earnest. “How long?”

She blinked. “How long what?”

Finally pulling her closer he let his hands slide lower and he smiled at the slight fluttering of her lashes though she remained tense in his arms. “How long until you decide that this isn’t enough? It’s been six months, Caroline, and I grow weary of waking to your side of the bed being cold.”

“I don’t think that is something I can give a set timeline to,” Caroline said slowly. “And waiting isn’t a bad thing, is it? Six months is a drop in the bucket you know. Shouldn’t you be better at waiting after a thousand years?”

“Anticipation can be a useful tool,” Klaus agreed, before letting his words firm. There were many things that he would undoubtedly get wrong in the upcoming years with her, but in this, he would brook no misunderstanding. “But in this instance? No. I want you here, Caroline, with me. And I refuse to make any apologies about it.”

Caroline smiled at him then, body softening to mold fully against the line of his, eyes warming with the affection he so craved from her. “Then maybe you need to step up your game, huh?”

Her words were a tease, her body an invitation, and he let his smile dimple in a way that always had her pulse skipping loudly in her throat. His hands firmed as he moved them both back directly under the spray, fingers digging into the firm muscles of her thighs. “A challenge, love? And after we just replaced the shelf.”

She spluttered and he bent his head to catch the sound on her lips. If Caroline wanted to turn this into a pleasurable battle of wills, he was more than willing to indulge her. Her words assured him that it was only a matter of time before she came to the same conclusions that he had accepted decades ago. She was already making those steps towards him, coming here after her disaster of a day, letting him tease and coax. He was confident that it was only a matter of time, sooner than even she was willing to admit, before she was here with him all the time. He would accept nothing else, and convincing her was its own kind of fun.

Though he had no intention of letting her know that she was correct, in that regard.


End file.
